SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS – SMALL STEPS TOWARDS A BIG CHANGE

Making any kind of change can be daunting. Old habits die hard and bad habits can be even harder to break. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t doable, it just means you have to approach things smarter.

The key with making anything successful is having a plan and breaking your goal into small steps. It may seem overly simple, but no matter what you’re trying to do small steps will get you to your goal. Whether that goal is eating clean, greening up your beauty routine, removing clutter from your house, you name it this will work.

EATING CLEAN

Yay! Food is medicine and you can either keep your body healthy and make it strong or you can slowly break it down and poison it, harsh but true.

MISTAKE

TOSSING ALL THE FOOD IN YOUR FRIDGE AND PANTRY.

Although this sounds tempting it will be too overwhelming, not to mention expensive, to try to change a lifetime of eating habits all at once. Plus, if you live with others, a revolt may ensue, too.

SOLUTION

MAKE OVER ONE MEAL AT A TIME

Pick any meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks and clean up that meal. Remove all processed foods, empty calories, dairy or whatever it is you’re trying to remove and add in the good stuff. Organic, fresh fruits, veggies, good fats, etc.

Do this for at least a week or two.

Become a pro at that one meal and, most important, become comfortable with it, then move on and add another meal.

Repeat the process until all your meals and snacks are clean.

This doesn’t mean that once you clean up a meal that you should fill your other meals with with junk. You want to trend towards being healthier.

GREENING UP YOUR BEAUTY ROUTINE

MISTAKE

THROWING EVERYTHING OUT AND STARTING NEW

SOLUTION

REPLACE ONE PRODUCT AT A TIME

Finding the perfect green beauty product is no different than how you found the non-green beauty products you love.

You have to try a few to find out what works for you.

You always want to start with one product. We suggest starting with something you need. Foundation is running out? Mascara is old? Start there. My journey to green beauty started with an eye cream!

You can also start by switching out the items to cover the largest areas of your body, body lotion, for example. Either way, it may take a little time, but it is well worth it to keep your body healthy and reduce your exposure to toxic chemicals.

DECLUTTERING YOUR HOME

Isn’t there a famous quote that says, “A cluttered home is the result of a cluttered mind?” I whole-heartedly agree with this!

I never thought my home was cluttered until my husband called me out as a mini-hoarder.

Not only was I appalled, I was kind of mad, because he was right. I took a look around at what I had and realized a lot of the stuff was just that…it was stuff.

None of it was anything that I needed, loved or even really used. It was also wasteful. Here I was so passionate about living a clean life and reducing my impact on the Earth, yet, the state of my home did not reflect those beliefs. So, I started to change and I started with one drawer.

MISTAKE

STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST MESS FIRST

SOLUTION

START WITH THE SMALLEST MESS, EVEN IF IT IS A DRAWER

Raise your hand if you read the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo.

If you have a clutter situation in your home, and even if you don’t, I would highly suggest this book. It will change the way you look at the “things” in your life forever, and they are just that, they are “things”.

Although the strategies are presented in the context of decluttering your home they can be easily applied to other areas, too.

In the book Kondo suggests you start with something small, like your sock drawer. Get rid of what you don’t use, what you don’t need and what you don’t love and make that drawer utter perfection.

Starting smaller is the way to go for a few reasons. First, it’s easier and you have a quick success. That success then becomes a motivation for future successes.

The next job you tackle will be a little bit larger until you have built up the momentum to take on the really big jobs.

Secondly, you will get better as you go on. Just like with anything else practice makes perfect and you’ll pick up tricks so when you tackle those big jobs you’re going to be a far more efficient declutterer, is that even a real word, then when you started.

It really is about breaking whatever your goal is into small steps. Rome wasn’t built in a day and whatever your trying to do will take time, but a positive change is always worth it. Yes, you’ll make mistakes, but that’s where the greatest learning comes from. Before you know it you will look back and be amazed at how far you’ve come!

What are your tips and tricks for tackling goals? Comment below and share the knowledge.